Pete Sampras. Tiger Woods. And now Hicham El Guerrouj. How many times must history repeat itself before the most dominant men in sports catch on? …at least one more time. El Guerrouj, now 29, was married on Sept. 27, 2003. More recently, El G placed eighth in a 1500m in Rome; losing to more people in one race than he has in his previous eight years of racing…combined.
The venerable El G had lost three times (in 1500m or mile races) from 1996 until the Rome race. Three times! Some guys lose more wives than that in eight years! On two of these occasions, Hicham could have immortalized his name. But in both of his Olympic attempts, the Olympic gods seemed to have cursed him. First in '96, El G was tripped mid-race and tumbled to the track, and then in 2000, the unthinkable happened- Noah Ngeny from Kenya out kicked him, forcing El G to be El Gold-less for four more years.
No more dominant of an athlete has had the ultimate prize in their sport elude them in such a way. Think Michael Jordan with not one NBA Championship Ring. Think Pete Sampras with no Wimbledon titles. John Wooden with no NCAA Championships. This is Tom Hanks never landing a lead role in a film. This is outrageous. This summer, El G will run the biggest race of his life, the 1500m in Athens. Eight years after falling in Atlanta, he has one last chance to win that Gold Medal he has structured his whole life around to obtain. Only this time he has upon him the worst curse of them all. El G has a wife. And last month he became a father.
You see, great athletes have this problem with finding these young, beautiful women, and somehow suddenly losing focus. Their careers quickly spiral down and out of control, and the sport they knew and love and dominated for so long suddenly has a gapping hole. And for what? Only to have some kids, move to the suburbs, and wake up at 3AM to a screaming baby. Not quite the ideal setting for single-minded, dedicated athletes with one big W word on their mind. Now the only W word they can hear is a piercing WAAAH! (please refer to Kobe, '04 Lakers, for pronunciation).
Pete Sampras found his woman; left the game he was king of, happily trading cleaning up on grass for cleaning up his grass. We no longer see his Popeye arm and vice grip hand destroy opponents with that undersized racket. Now, Pete regrips his handle and pushes with that mighty right arm…on the stroller.
Tiger Woods found his beautiful woman, his game took a vacation, and despite still showing up and parading around for his sponsors, no one for a second thinks he's still playing the game. "Let's face it…a wife can be a deterrent to a good golf game. The level Tiger's at, finite problems like that would destroy him." Thank you Earl Woods, who also at one time predicted his son would be the best golfer on the planet. Game over.
And now El G. El G choosing a wife now is like Evander Holyfield choosing to smear bacon strips all over his ear lobes before fighting Mike Tyson. The only thing that sets El G apart from Sampras and Woods is that he has not achieved his greatness yet. He has not won the most prestigious thing he has been after his whole life. And for him to walk off now- that leaves what could be a closed debate over 'who is the greatest?' into a debate in which he is not even winning. At 29, one would be hard pressed to think that he would have a chance at the Gold Medal four years later at 33, with his once unfathomable speed waning by the year. Was El G willing to trade immortality for a family and children and being a father?
A few minority of people thought after Lance Armstrong barely held onto Tour win number five last year, through rocky rides on and off the streets, that he may step back and evaluate his life. His marriage was on the ropes, and he had to make a choice- riding or his wife and children?
Lance dumped his wife, mother of his children, ended up finding a rock star girlfriend fling for his convenience, and rededicated his life to the single-minded purpose of biking as fast as humanly possible to win a record sixth Tour de France. You don't become the greatest rider ever by being a 'stay-around-the-house-change-the-babies-diapers-in-the- middle-of-a-five-hour-night-of-sleep' husband. Lance apparently got the memo that no one sent to El Guerrouj.
As Lance pursues, distraction free, his record sixth Tour win, El G, distractions abounding, pursues one simple Gold Medal. Lance looks stronger than ever in the first two days of the Tour, and we just saw El G give up with 50 meters to go in Rome. You've gotta just pity the man.
Maybe 15 years from now, between visits to his broken family, Lance will smile at his immortality and place among history; a true living legend.
And maybe 15 years from now, Gold Medal or not, El G will look around at his wife, children, and house and smile with satisfaction over the choices he made in his life.
Just don't tell Lance; the last thing he needs right now is a distraction. Like I said; you've gotta just pity the man.
Note: Matt Goodwin is a freelance columnist for scrunners.com. A new column will be posted from Goodwin each week. Goodwin is a graduate of Wade Hampton (G) High School and Furman University.
The venerable El G had lost three times (in 1500m or mile races) from 1996 until the Rome race. Three times! Some guys lose more wives than that in eight years! On two of these occasions, Hicham could have immortalized his name. But in both of his Olympic attempts, the Olympic gods seemed to have cursed him. First in '96, El G was tripped mid-race and tumbled to the track, and then in 2000, the unthinkable happened- Noah Ngeny from Kenya out kicked him, forcing El G to be El Gold-less for four more years.
No more dominant of an athlete has had the ultimate prize in their sport elude them in such a way. Think Michael Jordan with not one NBA Championship Ring. Think Pete Sampras with no Wimbledon titles. John Wooden with no NCAA Championships. This is Tom Hanks never landing a lead role in a film. This is outrageous. This summer, El G will run the biggest race of his life, the 1500m in Athens. Eight years after falling in Atlanta, he has one last chance to win that Gold Medal he has structured his whole life around to obtain. Only this time he has upon him the worst curse of them all. El G has a wife. And last month he became a father.
You see, great athletes have this problem with finding these young, beautiful women, and somehow suddenly losing focus. Their careers quickly spiral down and out of control, and the sport they knew and love and dominated for so long suddenly has a gapping hole. And for what? Only to have some kids, move to the suburbs, and wake up at 3AM to a screaming baby. Not quite the ideal setting for single-minded, dedicated athletes with one big W word on their mind. Now the only W word they can hear is a piercing WAAAH! (please refer to Kobe, '04 Lakers, for pronunciation).
Pete Sampras found his woman; left the game he was king of, happily trading cleaning up on grass for cleaning up his grass. We no longer see his Popeye arm and vice grip hand destroy opponents with that undersized racket. Now, Pete regrips his handle and pushes with that mighty right arm…on the stroller.
Tiger Woods found his beautiful woman, his game took a vacation, and despite still showing up and parading around for his sponsors, no one for a second thinks he's still playing the game. "Let's face it…a wife can be a deterrent to a good golf game. The level Tiger's at, finite problems like that would destroy him." Thank you Earl Woods, who also at one time predicted his son would be the best golfer on the planet. Game over.
And now El G. El G choosing a wife now is like Evander Holyfield choosing to smear bacon strips all over his ear lobes before fighting Mike Tyson. The only thing that sets El G apart from Sampras and Woods is that he has not achieved his greatness yet. He has not won the most prestigious thing he has been after his whole life. And for him to walk off now- that leaves what could be a closed debate over 'who is the greatest?' into a debate in which he is not even winning. At 29, one would be hard pressed to think that he would have a chance at the Gold Medal four years later at 33, with his once unfathomable speed waning by the year. Was El G willing to trade immortality for a family and children and being a father?
A few minority of people thought after Lance Armstrong barely held onto Tour win number five last year, through rocky rides on and off the streets, that he may step back and evaluate his life. His marriage was on the ropes, and he had to make a choice- riding or his wife and children?
Lance dumped his wife, mother of his children, ended up finding a rock star girlfriend fling for his convenience, and rededicated his life to the single-minded purpose of biking as fast as humanly possible to win a record sixth Tour de France. You don't become the greatest rider ever by being a 'stay-around-the-house-change-the-babies-diapers-in-the- middle-of-a-five-hour-night-of-sleep' husband. Lance apparently got the memo that no one sent to El Guerrouj.
As Lance pursues, distraction free, his record sixth Tour win, El G, distractions abounding, pursues one simple Gold Medal. Lance looks stronger than ever in the first two days of the Tour, and we just saw El G give up with 50 meters to go in Rome. You've gotta just pity the man.
Maybe 15 years from now, between visits to his broken family, Lance will smile at his immortality and place among history; a true living legend.
And maybe 15 years from now, Gold Medal or not, El G will look around at his wife, children, and house and smile with satisfaction over the choices he made in his life.
Just don't tell Lance; the last thing he needs right now is a distraction. Like I said; you've gotta just pity the man.
Note: Matt Goodwin is a freelance columnist for scrunners.com. A new column will be posted from Goodwin each week. Goodwin is a graduate of Wade Hampton (G) High School and Furman University.